Region is top for road-repair funds

a familiar sight

GREATER Manchester was allocated £141 million for 2014-2015 to improve its roads — more than any other region in England.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has produced a league table of the amount of money allocated by Government to each local authority for road improvements over the past five years in England, and Greater Manchester has come out on top this year.

This is a sharp rise in the amount allocated to road repairs in Greater Manchester in the past few years.

In 2013-4 the amount was £58.3 million and in 2012-13 it was £49 million. Its 2014-15 allocation was 143 per cent greater than the previous year, and since 2010-11 the percentage increase was 58.1 per cent.

However, in overall percentage terms the local authority with the highest increased allocation was Stoke-on-Trent.

With an allocation of £10.2 million for 2014-15 compared with £4 million in 2013-14, this was a 155 per cent rise.

Neil Greig, IAM director of policy and research, said: “We know that in each case there are different circumstances as to why a local authority might have a reduced or increased allocation, but it is important to release that the road system is the lifeblood of any local authority.

“The road network is responsible for the survival and prosperity of the local economy and the jobs of people.

“It should be treated with the investment it deserves, for now and the future.

“The variation in figures brings into focus the issue of greater consistency in funding, which might help in long term planning.

“The government must keep up funding until the roads maintenance backlog has gone.”